IRS aides placed on administrative leave

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Moving quickly to address yet another controversy, the Internal Revenue Service placed two officials on administrative leave for accepting free food at a party in a private suite at a lavish IRS conference in 2010, the agency said Wednesday.

The officials accepted $1,100 worth of free food and other items, two congressional aides said.

The action comes as the agency faces mounting criticism for lavish spending on employee conferences, and for improperly targeting conservative political groups. An inspector general's report on Tuesday said the agency spent nearly $50 million on employee conferences from 2010 through 2012.

"When I came to IRS, part of my job was to hold people accountable," acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement. "There was clearly inappropriate behavior involved in this situation, and immediate action is needed."

The IRS notified congressional staffers about the action Wednesday.

The IRS did not publicly identify the workers, but two congressional aides said both employees worked in the IRS office that oversees implementation of the new health care law. One of the officials is Frederick Schindler, director of implementation oversight in the agency's Affordable Care Act office, the two aides said.

The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel matters on the record.

Werfel took over the agency about two weeks ago after President Barack Obama forced the previous acting commissioner to resign following revelations that IRS agents had been improperly targeting conservative political groups when they applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections.

The IRS said in a statement that Werfel first learned of the employees' actions Tuesday night "and immediately asked his leadership team to take action. He has also been in contact with key congressional committees about the situation."

"The agency stands ready to confront any problems that occur, hold accountable anyone who acted inappropriately and permanently fix these problems so that such missteps do not occur again," Werfel said.